1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adhesive label formed by adhesively attaching a laminated sheet consisting of a transparent film and a second separator to a tack sheet consisting of a writable base sheet and a first separator, a method of manufacturing the adhesive label, and an apparatus for carrying out the method to manufacturing the adhesive label.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been known an adhesive label formed by adhesively attaching a laminated sheet consisting of a transparent film and a second separator to a tack sheet consisting of a writable base sheet and a first separator.
When using this known adhesive label, the laminated sheet is raised from the tack sheet, and necessary matters are written on the writable base sheet of the tack sheet. Then, the second separator of the laminated sheet is separated from the transparent film, and the transparent film is attached adhesively to the base sheet of the tack sheet. Then, the transparent film and the base sheet are separated from the first separator, and the back surface of the base sheet is attached adhesively to an article, such as a disk case.
In this adhesive label, the first separator of the tack sheet has a relatively large area, while the base sheet has a relatively small area. Therefore, the writable base sheet cannot effectively be used, and a step formed between the first separator and the base sheet spoils the appearance.
The present invention has been made in view of such problems and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an adhesive label having a first separator and a base sheet respectively having substantially equal areas, allowing the effective use of the base sheet, and not having any step between the first separator and the base sheet.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing an adhesive label having a first separator and a base sheet respectively having substantially equal areas, allowing the effective use of the base sheet, and not having any step between the first separator and the base sheet, in such an adhesive label.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for manufacturing an adhesive label having a first separator and a base sheet respectively having substantially equal areas, allowing the effective use of the base sheet, and not having any step between the first separator and the base sheet.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, an adhesive label comprises a tack sheet having a base sheet and a first separator adhesively attached to the base sheet with a first adhesive layer so that the edges of the first separator coincide with the corresponding edges of the base sheet, respectively; and a laminated sheet having a transparent film and a second separator adhesively attached to a transparent film with a second adhesive layer. The laminated sheet has an external figure smaller than that of the tack sheet, an adhesive region in which the second adhesive layer is exposed is formed in a portion of the laminated sheet by removing a portion of the second separator, the laminated sheet is attached adhesively to the base sheet of the tack sheet by the adhesive region, and a first cut of a figure corresponding to the external figure of the laminated sheet is formed in the tack sheet so as to penetrate the base sheet and reach the first separator.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, an adhesive label manufacturing method comprises steps of feeding a tack sheet having a base sheet and a first separator adhesively attached to the base sheet with a first adhesive layer; forming releasing regions in the opposite side edge portions of the base sheet of the tack sheet by applying a release agent to the opposite side edge portions; overlaying a laminated sheet having a transparent film and a second separator adhesively attached to the transparent film with a second adhesive layer, on the tack sheet having the opposite side edge portions coated with the release agent, with the second separator having removed opposite side edge portions thereof and facing to the base sheet; punching the laminated sheet to divide the laminated sheet into a plurality of divisions and removing a slug of the laminated sheet; and punching out portions of the tack sheet including the divisions to provide individual adhesive labels and removing a slug of the tack sheet between the individual adhesive labels.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, an adhesive label manufacturing apparatus comprises: a tack sheet feed unit for feeding a tack sheet having a base sheet and a first separator adhesively attached to the base sheet with a first adhesive layer; a releasing region forming unit for forming releasing regions in the opposite side edge portions of the base sheet of the tack sheet by applying a release agent to the opposite side edge portions; a sheet overlaying unit for overlaying a laminated sheet having a transparent film and a second separator adhesively attached to the transparent film with a first adhesive layer, on the tack sheet having portions coated with the release agent, with the second separator having removed opposite side edge portions thereof and facing the base sheet; a first punching unit for punching the laminated sheet so as to divide the laminated sheet into a plurality of divisions and removing a slug of the laminated sheet; and a second punching unit for punching out portions of the tack sheet including the divisions to provide individual adhesive labels and removing a slug of the tack sheet between the individual adhesive labels.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the laminated sheet is attached adhesively to the base sheet of the tack sheet by the exposed portions of the second adhesive layer, and the first cut of a figure corresponding to the external figure of the laminated sheet is formed in the base sheet of the tack sheet so as to reach the first separator. Therefore, the second separator is separated from the transparent film after writing necessary matters on the base sheet of the tack sheet, and the transparent film is attached adhesively to the base sheet. Then, the base sheet to which the transparent film is attached adhesively is removed along the first cut from the first separator, and then the base sheet is attached adhesively to an article by the first adhesive layer. Since the respective outer edges of the base sheet and the first separator coincide with each other, the base sheet can effectively be used and no step is formed between the base sheet and the first separator.
According to the second and the third aspects of the present invention, the releasing agent is applied to the opposite side edge portions of the base sheet of the tack sheet to form the releasing regions, and the laminated sheet having the second separator having removed opposite side edge portions is overlaid on the tack sheet to attach adhesively the opposite side edge portions of the laminated sheet to the tack sheet. After forming the plurality of individual sections by punching the laminated sheet, portions of the tack sheet having a figure corresponding to the external figure of an adhesive label are punched out to obtain individual adhesive labels.